Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-03

tempt TO reproduce, begged that Miss
Annals" rest should not be broken by
our rude chanting. | shall never for
get the broken, tender. deprecating little
reply that came from Parsons and how
we consented at last to sing. His face
was SO rapt as he sat beating time with
| his forefinger and occasionally 9uaver-
| ing out an effective Dying tonight. dy-
| ing tonight" which we sang as il our
very life blood were ebbing away, that
| began to realize the absolute coward
Ice of ridiculing u perfectly innocent.
unconscious man. began to try and
shield him from the funma kers and was
finally joined by Orphee, who became
| his most ardent and eloquent partisan.
AS for Parsons, he grew almost TO wor-
ship the handsome, Sweet-vOiced lad.
One luckless afternoon Parsons, Or
phec and / strolled off together, leaving
Miss Anna" to the mercies of our mess,
| but, torinented By some vague PRESENT.
ment of evil. induced my companions
to return Il little earlier than they in
tended. AS we neared the tent nv eai
caught the sounds of derision that came
first from our Virginian and were then
finally caught up by the others. and
ended IN peal after peal of laughter.
We pushed eagerly in. Alas! Miss
Anna" decked out in the most ridicu-
lous toogery. had been tied between
four stakes driven into the ground, and
the men were engaged in pricking her
with pine burrs until the poor animal
fairly writhed in agony. In a minute
we mad freed her, and Parsons held the
poor bleeding creature close to his
breast. His small, square figure seemed
to rise and dilate with a certain sense
of superior power as he turned his
blanched face and blazing eyes upon
| the crowd.
You call yourselves gentlemen, he
said, harshly, You, who have tortured
| the poor, dumb. defenseless creature
| left in your care. Thank God, my mean
| ing of the word is different! You have
no excuse You are all supposed to be
men, and honorable men, men who are
fighting for the rights of their country,
and vet you can amuse yourselves with
senseless cruelty such as you have prac-
ticed this afternoon. You have brand
ed yourselves as towards and liars, for'
his voice broke suddenly-''I trusted
YOU"
stir in the little tent, and several men
stepped toward the speaker. picturesque
III his very npicturesqucness, whose
grolcSque figure stood out sharply
| against the bit of landscape showing
through the opening of the tent But
his face awcd them back. The goat
turned and moaned pitifully, rubbing
her nose against Parsons coat with
mute insistence. His faced softcned
wonderfully; he seemed to forget the
men, his anger, everything and he
whispered to her in soft carcssing
tones: You have followed me through
| thick and thin, Miss Ann. When the
overflow came, and we were starving,
it was you who struog led back TO us
through the water, anu it was your milk
that kept us alive. Everything depend
ed then on your strength We called
our baby after you. and when the poor
little one died it cut me cruelty cruelty.
| Be brave, Miss Anna be brave and
putting his cheek on Miss Anna's'
! head the tears fairly rolled out Of his
eyes.
He stopped minute, drawing in his
breath in short, quick little sobs, and
threw out both hands with Il forlorn
! gesture of Abandonment.
20, great God! | was so lonely when
wife and babies all were dead, aud /
loved Miss Anna then; / love her now
as the one relic left me of that beautiful,
vanished past. Then the war came.
and | tried to leave you, thinking it
be ridiculed, despIsed, and even tor
tured. All the conduct of the last week
breaks over me, and l see what blind
fool | have BEEN"
Parsons, you are to 90 on picket
duty tonight, and you had better start
now" called in the voice of our Lieu
tenant. The men, now thoroughly
ashamed of themselves, came nearer.
and were about to offer some heartfelt
words of apology, but Parsons turned
away, and delivering "Miss Anna"
over to Orphee said, pleadingly. ''if any
thing should happen to me, you will
take care of her?'
Orphee's eyes filed with tears as he
pressed the extended hand Without
another word or look Parsons strobe
out into the dark.
Were brutes = cowardly brutes, J"
said our Virginian, disgustedly.
81 would rather face million Yankees
than hear that mans story told in that
voice again. said another.
That night was a weary one. We
could not forget the solemn figure. the
dark, patient face, the broken, harsh,
tender voice, and the pines above and
the river far away seemed to mingle
their grief at our cowardice and brutaIi-
ty. Meanwhile Miss Anna" slept
peacefully on the best blanket of the
mess, while we lay there speeches.,
thoughtful, unhappy, even the greater
issue of the war momentarily forgotten.
With the dawn came action. The
Yankees were upon us. and we fought
like wildcats. As evening came on the
fight was suspended, and when our
mess met everybody was there, Miss
Anna" included, except Parsons. We
had made up Il scheme to beg his for
eiveness and TO swear to be gentlemen,
at least. Each of us had Il separate
speech of apology to make, expressive
of shame and contrition. When night